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Atheist jihad
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: London
I am currently:  
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Short Story (Untitled) *Poss Triggering*
OK so i found this short story on my computer that i started writing a year ago but i never finished it. So over the last couple of days I decided to finish it. I'm still not completely happy with it but i never am really. So erm I hope you enjoy it.
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Lucy sat at her desk in the computer lab and waited for the screen to load. She stared out of the rain splattered window watching the other girls in the school yard wishing she could be more like them, more “normal”. The lab had become her sanctuary away from the name calling and the hair pulling she could be alone. There was always a teacher about but they never bothered her they just sat in the corner eating their lunch and attempting the times crossword. She was thankful for their presence at least that way she couldn’t be bothered by Jenny and her mindless followers for 45 minutes of every school day she could at least be herself and she wasn’t just the “Goth kid” the subject of everyone’s stares and play thing of the bullies.
After working on it for some minutes the web page she had entered finally loaded. It was the rock & metal forum she loved so much the one that gave her a chance to talk to like minded people and even make a few internet friends, though distant geographically they comforted her when she was down made her feel less alone. She sat for a while responding to a few posts and some private messages from friends when a rather dull bleep told her she’d received a new email. The subject read “Cool website I found you HAVE to see it” she looked at the senders address and didn’t recognise it. Normally she would have deleted it without opening and carried on something this time perhaps boredom, perhaps curiosity made her look.
The e-mail had a personal touch to it, it did not seem at least on the surface to be a bulk mail designed to sell natural penis enlargements or Viagra that really works. She still didn’t recognise the sender and it was merely signed with an “x” so no clues there. She could ascertain from the message though that whoever had sent it wanted her to see this website. Seeing how she was feeling in a frivolous mood she clicked on the link within the mail and waited impatiently. Seconds later the bell rang for the next lesson with some reluctance she closed the window before the page had a chance to load she logged off the computer, made a mental note to get online again as soon as possible and made her way to her double PE lesson her most hated of all the week. As she walked out of the room Mr Wilcox the teacher at front desk gave her a very familiar stare that she felt almost everyday. It was the one that seemed to say you’re worthless. She simply adopted her usual position with her head down and her long black hair covering as much of her face as she could force it to.
Two long and eventful hours of playing netball in a stupidly short pleated skirt in the freezing autumn rain she found the most secluded area of the changing room so she could get into something dry and warm and get the hell out of there and get back to the sanctuary of her bedroom.
Now dressed she was glad at least that she had managed to avoid another run in with her tormentors for another day. Perhaps they had finally decided to leave her alone and pick on another unfortunate. She had been ready for some minutes but she often hid in the toilets until the room fell silent and even then she would wait five minutes or so just to give herself some space. She eventually decided to brave the outside once more and made her way cautiously towards the exit. As she reached out to grab the door handle she heard the all too familiar voice of Jenny and two of her “crew” heading that way. Now she was scared she knew that if they caught her in there alone they would have a field day. She panicked she turned and ran as fast as she could back towards the toilet block that had always protected her before. The floor though was wet with rain water walked in from the dreary outside world. Before she reached her personal fortress she slipped to the ground turning her ankle in the process, she was a sitting duck now. She tried to get back to her feet but her efforts were all in vain, they were through the door now and it wouldn’t be long before they discover her there. She tucked herself up into a tight ball and prepared herself for the inevitable.
The girls made a loud characteristically rude entrance to room. They soon spotted Lucy coiled in fear on the floor. Her heart was beating so fast she felt like it was going to explode and she couldn’t control her shaking. The bullies were quick to hone in on her terror. Between them they dragged her to toilets she had so desperately tried to reach just moments earlier. They forced her head into the seldom cleaned bowl and flushed until her head was submerged in the water. Grabbing her bag they removed her phone and her mp3 player and dumped the rest including her diary into the very same bowl. Laughing they flushed her head once more and walked away without a care.
Lucy waited until her tormentors had left before she picked herself up and tried to retrieve what she could from the toilet. All her school books had been ruined along with her diary which held all her most secret and sacred thoughts. The ink had run and where her perfect handwriting had once been an inky blobby mess was all that was left. Battered and bruised she slowly edged towards the mirrors. She was trying not to let it all get on top of her just 6 more months and she’d be out of that place forever. She still knew though ahead of her was a gruelling bus journey full of people who she hated the scum who’s sole purpose it seems is to make everyone else’s life a misery. She kept with her the thought that she would get through it and when she got home she could shut herself in her room get online and be with people that really understood her.
Luckily in some ways for her the incident in the changing rooms had made her miss her intended bus. At least that meant she wouldn’t be crammed in with kids of two other schools all full of E numbers and seemingly looking for a fight. This way she would spend most of the journey mostly with the elderly and students at the local college. This at least meant the journey would be bearable. She looked at herself in the mirror, her make up was running and her hair was wet and stuck to her cheeks. She tidied her self up the best she could with her limited resources available. She had a natural beauty which radiated through even without the enhancements of make up. She didn’t see it in herself though, she was not very confident with her appearance. She saw all the guys go for the girls with the blondest hair and the biggest breasts and secretly that’s all she wanted, to be noticed for the “right” reasons. She checked herself a final time in the mirror before she made a move for the bus stop.
Apart from being offered an array of drugs at her school gates her journey to the bus stop was largely uneventful. As she waited for her bus her mind began to ponder just what that website was about Why had she been so interested in it and what was it that was driving her so much to get home and check it out. There was at least nobody to worry her there in fact there were just two other people at her stop, one a youngish blonde haired woman dressed in a pinstripe suite with a cigarette in one hand and her mobile into which she was speaking loudly in the other. The second was probably late to mid 50’s and hadn’t showered or shaved in a while and was drinking large quantities from a poorly hidden vodka bottle wrapped in a plastic bag. Deciding the blonde woman posed the least threat she shuffled over towards her making sure it didn’t look too obvious. She stood so that the blonde separated her and the drunken man she felt safer that way. Still she wished that bus would hurry up she had no music to listen to and she still felt sore from earlier.
After what seemed like a life time her bus pulled up at the stop, she rushed to get on first she wanted to get a seat to herself hopefully at the back where nobody would notice her ripped blazer or her blood shot eyes. She boarded using the bus bass she had retrieved from the toilet, fortunately it hadn’t been ruined not she thought to herself that the driver would notice even if it had. She managed to get to a seat at the back sitting opposite an elderly man who looked as though he was about to fall asleep. She watched the blonde in the pin stripe suit get on and go upstairs still chatting away on the phone and the drunken man who’d try to pay with a used tissue and a lighter had been escorted back off the bus not before insulting the driver and anyone else within earshot.
The bus pulled away and a mind numbing 20 minutes later it reached Lucy’s stop she left the bus offering a quiet cursory thank you to the driver and began her short walk back to her home. Typically not long into her walk the heavens opened and the rained poured down on her. She rushed home as quickly as she could but at least now she wouldn’t have to explain to her mum why her clothes were soaked through, if she was lucky she could get upstairs and into her room before she was spotted then at least she could fix the rip in her blazer and tidy herself up. She knew though that before she got home she’d have to go past the Cornhill estate. It was a rough estate and many of her classmates dwelled within its drab concrete walls.
She hoped that the rain would mean they’d be inside somewhere or at least her luck would hold and they’d leave her alone. She carried on walking at pace She could see the end of her street now she was so close. She passed the monstrous tower blocks and breathed a sigh of relief as she could see nobody trying to threaten her she was hopeful she’d get home ok now. Now just a hundred or so metres from her home she felt more relaxed she slowed down to steady pace and her mind turned back to the website, soon she’d be able to find out what it was about. As she daydreamed to herself she let her guard down and as she went to cross the road a rude and familiar voice hit her out of nowhere. She looked around quickly but kept moving forwards her foot half stepped onto the edge of the curb before she could stop her self she’d moved all her weight on to thin air and she fell cutting her knee on broken bottle.
As she hit the ground she looked up to see the owner of that awful voice he was standing with a few of his nastier friends roughly 50 or so metres from where she was. She knew they’d come after her they always did. She picked herself up blood pouring from her knee and she began to run as fast as she could back to her house. The boys picked up their bikes from their propped positions near by and began to chase her down. They gained on her quickly but she had got a good start on them she managed to get to her front gate before they could get near her. She smashed through the gate and scrambled to get her keys from her pockets in her panic she dropped them into a near by flowerpot costing her precious seconds. The boys had got of their bikes and were coming down the path. She could hear her dog barking and as she got the key in the door and opened it he rushed past her and made a b line for her pursuers. Cowards as they were the boys ran as fast they could back the way they’d come. Lucy ran in slammed the door behind her and ran as fast as she could to the bathroom to tend her new wound.
She grabbed a bandage a sponge and some disinfectant and painfully she cleaned and dressed her wound. She went down stairs to make herself a cup of tea where she discovered a note from her mother telling her she wouldn’t be back till 6. She was pleased by this news she could get changed sort out her clothes without anything being found out. Better yet she could get on the internet for a good couple of hours without being disturbed. She added milk and one sugar to her tea grabbed a couple of biscuits out on the tin and she went up stairs again to her room.
She got out of her uniform and dried herself with a towel she had grabbed from bathroom. She put on her favourite top and jeans and switched her computer on. The fanfare that declared the computer ready for use sounded and the screen filled with shot she had taken herself looking out from a beach into the perfect blue Caribbean sea from last years trip to Barbados. She kept it their to remind her of the trip the last time all her family had been together since the unexpected loss of her father to cancer. She often dreamed of walking with him on that beach again it was a thought that often kept her going when things got rough at home or at school. Now was one of those times when she wished he was still around more than ever. She stared for a while thinking about it before eventually entering her password and logging on.
No new e-mails had arrived since the mystery one except one telling her she’d one a car in a competition she hadn’t even entered. She deleted it and went to re-open the one with the link but she hesitated she’d check in the forum first see if there was anyone around she could talk to. She didn’t see a name she recognised in the online member list so she made a new post about everything that had happened in her day hoping somebody may offer a few words of encouragement. She posted it sat back took a sip of her tea and waited in hope. Ten minutes passed without a reply and her heart sank a little. She closed the forum window and returned to her old e-mail box and opened the one she’d been thinking about all the way home. What could it be? who sent it too her? And why? She reread the brief message again thinking she may have missed something the first time.
Hi Lucy
I’ve been on this website for a few days now I’m totally hooked. You have to check it out. Click the link below.
X
Well whoever it was knew her name and that had to mean something, right? Ok she didn’t recognise the address but that could just be a new address of an old forum friend who hadn’t got round to telling her yet. Throwing caution to the wind she clicked the link once more and this time she wasn’t going to close it till she found out what it was about. The page took some time to load and just before the screen had flickered like when a mobile phone placed near it receives a message or a call only there was no phone nearby hers had probably been smashed or sold by now. The page turned black and slowly pictures and some red writing began to load. The website address itself and given no clue as to what it was about it was simply a seeming random arrangement of numbers and letters which made no sense now though the site banner had loaded. In bold red letters it read as follows
“Welcome to the sanctum a place where you can come to relax after a hard day or to escape from the pressures of the outside world. An area where you can just come to play the games or watch the videos or interact with other members help each other through problems. Above all we want to you to feel safe and have fun. Simply become a member free of charge and you can start using the site right away, so what are you waiting for?”
She pondered for a second on what exactly she was waiting for. After all this seemed like just the sort of place she had been searching for at least subconsciously. What was the worst that could happen? She thought as she entered her details as a new member. She chose herself a username and a password and clicked enter. As she waited for the conformation of her membership she went down stairs to make a second cup of tea. As she returned to her room she glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. 4.57 She still had plenty of time before her mother asked her about her day and generally got on her nerves. As she returned to the computer her e-mail conformation greeted her with superfluous timing. She officially signed in for the first time and began to cruise the site.
The thing that struck her most was the feeling of darkness to the site. Everything was black or at least it seemed like it. It almost had a feeling of being alive there was something there that made her slightly cautious, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it but there was something. The site was vaguely subdivided into sections, a chat room, a forum, a games area and video section which had a bizarre mix of funny, strange and sometimes disturbing videos. With slight apprehension and even a little fear she began to watch a few of the videos. The first few she looked at were harmless enough mainly clips of teenage boys desperately trying to impress watching teenage girls with a display of slick skateboarding tricks, usually ending in a crash or a fall or on one occasion with a dog knocking them off. Another video showed a small child desperately trying to blow out the candles on his birthday cake only to have them relight again seconds later. It was an old gag but still it made Lucy chuckle softly. She then scrolled down a little further until another video caught her eye. The still picture showed a blackened room with a distorted face shown in the background, though it was blurred the face was pale and Lucy was sure it was male. As she looked at the title of the video she gasped and then felt a bizarre tingling in the back of her neck, suddenly the room grew colder and she felt paranoid like she was being watched. The title read “Over here Lucy”
Her brain was telling her that she should switch off the computer and leave the room, but her curiosity forced her to push on. Her finger hung over the mouse button as if she was waiting for the fear that raged inside her to defeat the what?, why? And how’s? Flying around her brain. She clicked the link and the battle was won, when the video appeared on the screen it auto played. It filled the screen with a series of nightmarish images the glow of which lit up Lucy’s dimly lit room in flashes of stuttered light. They were mostly made up of everyday objects but there was something very eerie and sinister about them and they were tinged with a blood red glow. Something in the back of Lucy’s had began to make a connection she wasn’t quite sure what to but she was sure that those items were not randomly thrown together, there was some link there.
Soon the images disappeared and as they faded they were replaced with blackened room she recognised from earlier. There was a dank moist feeling to this room a trickling of water could faintly be heard through the computer speakers. In the centre of the room a small flame flickered from a burning torch. The torch provided just enough light that Lucy could make out what looked like tree roots or vines climbing the walls. The intermittent light also allowed her to see the outline of a human figure. He was standing huddle and more than a little bedraggled to the left side of the room. In her head Lucy kept saying “come closer, come closer, and let me see you” but the figure refused to oblige. But then all of a sudden it lurched forward and began an approach at an alarmingly quick pace.
Such was speed of this changed that it made Lucy jump back from her screen and rolled back across the room several feet on her chair before it tipped over, bumping her head as she went. As she pulled herself back up onto the chair and back towards the screen she could see that now the person in her screen was definitely a man. Not only that but a man she recognised, a man she recognised very well. Sure he was haggard looking and his skin was wrinkled and in some places seeming missing but Lucy was sure who this was, this was her father. Was that possible? Was it possible that her father had somehow cheated death to live on somewhere?
Lucy stared into the screen for a few seconds, her mouth gaping in amazement. The man she recognised as her father was staring back at her. But he couldn’t actually see her now, Could he? No that was impossible; she put the thought out of her head as the man began to speak. At first the voice was so soft she could barely hear him over the sound of flowing water. She reached over and turned her speakers up as loud as they could go. If this was her father she wanted to hear every word he said. Seeing his face again had brought back tearful memories of those days and weeks she had spent at his hospital bed side. Only now he looked even worse than that day, paler and more withered.
His words were clearer now she could make out all but a few and they really began to resonate with her. The effect of hearing her father’s voice again after all this time left her mind a little jilted. She wanted to concentrate on what he was saying but the whole situation was overwhelming her. She tried to rewind it a little so she could catch what she missed but it wouldn’t let her. As she tried to move her cursor it would spring back to its starting position on the corner of the screen. She began to have the feeling that she no longer had control of her computer. She tried the power button but nothing happened. It hadn’t frozen though the video was still running. Although her mind was saying something really isn’t right here “pull the plug” the image of her father prevented her from doing so.
She sat listening intensely until she had almost convinced herself that he was speaking to her. She was only encouraged in this thinking when she definitely heard him say “would you like that Lucy?” referring to whether she would like to see him again. Of course she would, she’d dreamed about it she’s prayed for it despite being agnostic about the existence of God. But how would she tell him? She felt a little ridiculous but she began to whisper towards her screen, but nothing appeared to change. Her father continued speaking as he had done for the last 10 or so minutes. Maybe if she was a little braver, spoke a little louder? She tried but again nothing. Her heart sunk, she was stupid to think that would work. But then just as she had given up all hope her father paused.
Then her father spoke again “OK Lucy, are you ready?” She nodded, she knew he couldn’t hear her, perhaps he could see her somehow. Whether he could see her or not he seemed to recognise the signal. He raised his hand and pressed it against the screen outstretched in the manner of a handshake. When his finger tips reached the screen, a swirling hole began to appear in its centre. His fingertips pierced the screen on her side and as it did dirty brown water started to trickle down the front of her monitor and on to her desk. The room grew icy cold; Lucy’s now quickening breath was a visible vapour in the air.
As he stretched his hand further towards her, Lucy recoiled slightly, she hadn’t been prepared for this and the sight of his bony hands with there overgrown dirty nails was all a little too much for her. She wanted to run but fear had paralysed her, she couldn’t move. Now most of his arm was through the screen Lucy noticed that wrapped around them were the same roots she could see sprawled across the walls. More of these roots came crawling through all corners of the screen and reached out towards Lucy water was now gushing through onto the floor and there was nothing she could do to stop it. As her fathers arm reached further through she watched as it made beckoning signals to her.
She didn’t move, she couldn’t move, she remained frozen. The roots came faster and faster and now as they reached her feet they began to wrap themselves around her climbing up her body, the roots were a greyish green had razor sharp barbs and some began to pierce her skin as they secured themselves around her arms, waist and neck. She tried to resist but the more she struggled the more she was scratched and her skin ripped she felt the blood soak into her clothes.
The pain was becoming unbearable. She began to feel drowsy as if the barbs were tipped with some poison. She was now being dragged towards the screen, her father’s hand still waving her on though the room was now spinning. As she neared the screen the roots around her arms pulled tighter until she was horizontal. She was now going head first into her computer monitor; her fathers arm had now retreated. She tried to fight but she couldn’t stop it, as she disappeared through the glass everything went black.
As she awoke she found herself propped up against a dank and damp wall covered in a thick green slimy sludge. Her body throbbed from the pain of being restrained by the roots and she still bled from the numerous cuts left in her skin. She strained to look around and see if her father was there. In her head there were so many questions as well as how the hell she was going to get her self out of this situation. Her clothes were soaked in a mixture of blood, mud and water and she was cold, colder than she’d ever been.
She looked down at her lacerated skin she was shocked by how white it was. She was very fair of skin anyway but now it looked almost translucent. She tried to pull herself to her feet but she was still woozy from her ordeal. She managed to get herself to her knees before collapsing back against the wall. A sudden clucking sound like that of chains being wound seemed to announce the reappearance of her father as a door raised and he staggered in.
Lucy wanted to scream but she couldn’t find the breath. He slouched and dragged his leg as he walked and as he came closer Lucy noticed something different. Different from the image of her father she had seen in her computer screen. His outline was now vague and non descript like there was nothing there inside him. The closer he came the more it became clear that this was not her father. This figure reminder her more of something from a zombie movie. The clothes it wore were tattered, drenched and blood stained. A viscous fluid dripped from its arms like water from a broken tap.
Soon he was looming over her and she could do nothing to control it. She cowered and covered her face as his vile breath became intoxicating in the air. She was more scared now than she’d ever been in her life.
The imposing creature that stood above her paused for a moment before grabbing her by wrists and dragging her slowly and agonisingly across the room. At the centre of room Lucy was dropped back to the floor. She felt so helpless but she needed answers she screamed as best she could until her throat was soar. “All will become clear” hissed the ghost like figure. Sure enough she could feel a change inside her she no longer felt herself. She looked down at her hands again and now she was less pale but now her hands resembled those of the man she had seen before.
As she sat up she glanced over to a pool of water, she rocked back slightly as the reflection she saw was not her own. The image she now saw was of a much older woman, perhaps somebody’s mother. As she looked up she saw on the far wall a small window reminiscent of a computer screen, with the blurred image of what look liked a young girl not much older than her. Soon a terrifying realisation hit her, she had now become apart of the trap and nothing she did could change that.
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